Singapore man wrongfully jailed while claiming lottery jackpot

A Singaporean man who was wrongly detained while collecting a US$1.2 million lottery prize has finally received his winnings after a woman who claimed to be the rightful winner was jailed.

A spokesman for the state-linked betting firm Singapore Pools told AFP Tuesday that the 48-year-old winner collected his cheque last week.

The Straits Times newspaper reported Tuesday that the man, identified only as Mr. Ho, had been arrested in December while collecting his prize because a woman had informed police that she bought and lost the winning ticket.

The man spent a night in police custody before being released on bail the following afternoon. Police subsequently arrested Tang Sok Eng, 46, after determining that she had lodged a false report, and she was sentenced in February to a month in jail after pleading guilty.

It was not immediately known why the woman had made the report, as she did not know the prize winner.

AFP

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